Have you ever perfomed solo in front of a crowd?

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Yes, I have performed by myself many times in front of crowds at different places and at jurys while I was in college/university.

I usually feel like I want to toss my cookies before I go on. I get concerned I will make a mistake and look like a fool while doing it.

But after I am up on stage and concentrating on what I'm performing, my fear goes away. I get so focused I forget that people are there watching me.

I'm near-sided so I never wear my glasses while I'm perfoming especially when I'm singing and everyone is in front of me. They're blurry and I usually pick locations to look at right above their heads instead of looking at them. That really helps me because I end up focusing on what I'm doing in a dazy sort of way.

Presentations are more difficult because there is more interaction with the people and there are questions and answers after the presentation is finished. But after I am up there and talking, it gets better. Now that I'm older, it's like to Hell with it, I am not in the mood to get anxious about giving a presentation anymore. I've never recieved anything other than an A for any of my presentations so I did alright.

I actually had Q & A after every jury too while I was in college/university studying music. But there wasn't a crowd just the jury.

back when I was penicostal, before I aquired a mind of my own....I signed "love in any lanuage" to the congergation with background music. They wanted me to sing, but I am tone deaf as well as mostly deaf deaf, so I agreed to sign instead. When I finished, some lady came up to me and said she was taking sign language classes and those were not the signs that they use in her class. I told her that I sign ASL (american sign language) and she probably learned SEE (signing exact english) which are totally different. Deaf people use ASL, but for some reason sign language instructors for the hearing as well as public school interepers use SEE. What ends up happening is that hearing people sign SEE to deaf folks, and the deaf folks know they learned sign language formally, not from hanging out with deaf folks....they can be kinda clichish like that.
So then they say there is deaf sign and hearing sign. Why dont they teach hearing folks ASL is beyond me...sorry for the rant

Jojo

I talked at a conference at a college.I know it wasnt preforming but I was on my own in front of a crowd doing a presentation. there was 150 people there and I was called in as a last minute back-up speaker but thankfully I was given enough oppurtunitie to practise so I was not nervous.also a ex-(mini/local)dragons den interveiwer was there and she congratulated me on the presentation so I say It went okay.
I have the singing voice of a duck and scarecrow combined ^.^ so I dont sing...at all...the only musical instrument I know how to play is a tin whistle and saying that I dont play very well at all...so...no churches for me .

I did a lot of public speaking (reading the school announcements, making speeches, etc.) until I was 10. It never occured to me until then to be scared for some reason.

As an adult, I've given a few poetry readings (approx. 30 minutes each). They came off well but the pre-speech anxiety was a nightmare.

When I was in high school I made it to the finals for public speaking two years in a row. I was strangely not nervous as my speeches were entirely about my 'interests'. I barely even prepared for either speech as I knew everything so well already
I also played a guitar solo in front of 700 people, and before that I had played a few songs with a band I was in at the time. The solo I did was pretty fun, mostly I did it so the rest of the band could get their stuff off the stage for the next act and still keep the audience entertained.
When I worked at a pub I regularly played guitar with the various jam bands that went up. Its been a while but I also used to frequent a 'blues/smoked meat' bar where I would randomly jam with people on classic blues numbers
I don't much like performing anymore. I mostly play music for my own amusement. When I was younger it was a real thrill though, especially considering I had been ignored most of my life. It was a real liberating feeling

Yep, and people were immensely surprised on at least one occassion because unlike everyone else who had the balls to do it I was sober.

Yes!

*2 years ago at a church program, I sang a 4 line solo in front of 300-400 kids my age.

*Then in church, last year, I sang a 4 line solo (and everybody else had to share their verse with other people) in front of my ward of 100-200 people.

*Finally, a few months ago, I signed a song in front of a crowd of deaf/ hearing people (200 I think) for an ASL talent show

---The first time, I was sooooo nervous and I kinda was a little bit squeaky and it didn't come out the way I had prepared even though I practiced a million times

---The second time, I was pretty nervous and the microphone didn't come to me, so not enough people heard me

---The third time, I worked really hard, and though I made a and error or two, it felt like such a success and it was liberating!

I'm hoping to see if I can sing a whole song in front of my ward during the summer...just gotta get up the nerve to ask the musical director

Yes. The largest crowd was over a few thousand.

That is what being a professional musician does though. That was a long time ago though.

My final uni exam was the scariest though.

Yep. I miss it though. I played Go Do by Jónsi for the entire school. Singing and playing the baritone ukulele.

My voice sounded great reverbed in the gym. v_v

I should download a video of my solo and make a video to show you guys.

in front of up to 60,000 people.... who didn't came to see me.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWi9YRPMrao[/youtube]

look closely and maybe you'll find me....